Program outline and objectives

The master in Public Health Data Science provides a year of international research in public health data science, from project design to real life health data analysis and the communication of results. Selected within the French “Investments for the Future” program as an “Initiative of Excellence”, the program covers multidisciplinary skills in epidemiology, informatics and statistics, and ensures that students gain strong knowledge about the strengths and limits of digital technologies and their use in public health research.

Epidemiology
Translation of a public health / clinical problem into a research question, including the design of research plans for surveillance systems, observational and experimental studies (i.e. clinical trials), evaluation of validity and causality of an association.

Statistics
Methods for supervised and unsupervised statistical analysis and modelling of biomedical data (including highdimensional and time-to-event data), statistical learning, data mining, data integration, advanced computational statistics.

Informatics
Architecture of data integration (i2b2, Transmart), interoperability, knowledge representation (terminologies, ontologies), natural language processing, data visualization, programming, cloud computing and Hadoop, linked open data, security, confidentiality and integrity of data.

Strengths

- Interdisciplinary training focused on three main disciplines: statistics, epidemiology and informatics

- International environment with students and instructors coming from different continents

- Innovative learning approach based on data-centered projects, hands-on workand flipped classrooms

Employability and career routes

Upon completion of this master in Public Health Data Science, students may continue with further studies and research via a PhD in Digital Public Health or they may enter the working world with strong qualifications for a career in public health. Graduates not only have a global vision of data science issues in relation to epidemiology and public health, they also master the research and leadership skills that are necessary for chief data officer jobs. They are thus well prepared to become future leaders of the digital public health domain within the public and / or private sector. Typical careers include researchers or engineers in academic and private research teams, technicians in medical enterprises, start-ups, or contract research organizations (CRO), consultants or digital health specialists in industry or government ministries and agencies.